Due Date

It's crazy to think that Ethan was due today, but he's already been in this world for 6 amazing days. I don't think I can adequately express the pride and joy I have when I talk to someone about him. We've met lots of great families since we've been at Duke and they never fail to stop us in the hallways to ask how he's doing. I grin every time I get to say "He's doing really well". Jeramie told one family last night that if Ethan's story were to be in a newspaper the headline would read "Ethan Mullis Exceeds Expectations", and that's so true. He continues to surprise us and his nurses with his progress. Thank you God for healing and recovery.

Yesterday was a big day for Ethan as Dr. Jaggers was able to close his chest! This greatly reduces his risk for infection (but we're still being super cautious), and it's comforting as a mama to know that he doesn't have this gaping hole in his little body anymore. He handled the procedure like a champ and his swelling hasn't been anything like they thought it would be. Dr. Jaggers was able to remove one of his chest tubes as well; 1 down, 2 to go! The Dr. did say that he thinks Ethan may be on his way to a permanent pacemaker, but they're going to give him 7-10 days to prove them wrong. We believe that Ethan will probably do just that! Last night it was discovered that he has an underlying atrium rate of 80 and his atrium was barely being paced at all!! The ventricle still needs constant pacing, so be praying that things would begin to look up and we can get him off of this thing. As long as Ethan is "pacer-dependent" he can't leave the PCICU (unless they go ahead and put in a permanent one).

Before we left last night the respiratory therapist came in to adjust the ventilator. They are in the process of weaning him off of that, and it had been decreased even more over night. He's also currently down to 28% oxygen, so only 7% more to go until he's breathing room air!!

We've also got PEE! Never in my life have I been so excited about urine. His output is negative, which means he's peeing out more than they're putting in, and that's exactly what we want to see. Over night they were able to cut his Lasix dosage in half! Some of his kidney levels are still a little elevated, but they are expected to go down as his kidneys start doing more of the work on their own. We learned yesterday that doctors often refer to the kidneys in newborns as the "stupid organs" because they take so long to catch-up and start working after a surgery such as Ethan's.

We were told a few different times yesterday that we have a little "miracle baby" on our hands. Looking back on my pregnancy I can see how God was preparing me for Ethan, and everyone is right; he definitely is our little miracle.